Sunday: Origins Face Masks

Ok, it's fess up time! As much as I love skincare and have battled with keeping my skin nice, I am shockingly bad at keeping a routine. I can manage with the day to day routine, that I don't forget, but ask me to do an extra step once or twice a week and it goes straight out of my mind.

I have been making big improvements to this lately though since I picked up these two lovelies. Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal mask and the Drink Up Intensive Overnight mask are my only masks of use at the moment. I picked them up after seeing so many rave reviews about them on YouTube and the like, but I have to admit I was pretty darn sceptical. Masks just never seem to have a wow factor for me, they don't make a huge difference any more than a chemical exfoliator does when it comes to getting the gunk out of my face so I find it hard to get excited about them, but these ones have a lasting effect.

The Clear Improvement mask pretty much does what it says on the tube, it is designed to suck as much rubbish out of your pores as possible by using activated charcoal, china clay and lechetin. I have used a fair few clay masks as these were pretty much where my mask exploits stopped previous to this combination, but this one I like best of them all. It is a light product, it doesn't feel like my face is caked when I have it on, and although it dries out before removal it doesn't make my face feel like I have just used something highly abrasive, you know the feeling, tight and dry.

The Drink Up Intensive mask is the one I was really sceptical of, so much so I only picked up the small travel sized tube but I will be purchasing the standard size as soon as this is empty. I had used a moisturising mask a grand total of once before I picked this up, oily skin and the words "moisturising mask" always had me running for the hills, but since my new hydrating routines seem to be working to quell the tides on my t-zone I thought I would give it a go.The mask uses avocado oil and apricot kernel oil to replace lost moisture, and Japanese seaweed is in there to help repair that barrier I was talking about in my last skincare post. Let me just say that this mask smells delicious, every time I go to use it I want to eat it, apricots smell damn good! I was really paranoid about how it would feel to just leave this on my face as it is a bit thicker than a moisturiser even though it is a gel, but honestly it doesn't take too long to sink in so that skin is just slightly tacky and is in no way uncomfortable, and if you want you can wipe off any excess (though my skin is clearly so thirsty it wants more!)

This isn't going to be absolutely raving about these, because as I say, I just don't see huge improvements in the short term with using these things (I know Glam Glow has had a lot of hype lately for doing just that) but these two have been making a difference in the longer term.

On sunday nights I steam my face while I shower, double cleanse with my Emma Hardie balm and a flannel, and then apply the Clear Improvement mask. I let it sit while I watch the first part of Downton (God knows which show I am going to have to substitute this with now) and then wash it off. I find my skin to be quite clear and fairly decongested after doing this, but doubling up my masks has been a bit of a revelation to me.

When I thought about using different masks I would naturally think they had to be used on different days, but since seeing Anna's post about layering up your masks I have been slathering the Drink Up Intensive mask on afterwards and it always means I have really glowy and soft skin come monday morning, and who doesn't want a perk like that to brighten up a monday? The effects usually last until mid week before my skin starts to get a little congested again but it is no where near as bad as it was before this combination, and over the past few weeks I have noticed it becoming less and less of a problem. Using the moisturising mask also means my skin stays looking bright for the whole week, which is a massive improvement from my normal dull complexion!

I have been managing to do this every week for a while now so I know it is the method for me, it slots in easily to a spot where I am relaxing anyway and it doesn't take much effort to do, definitely the way forward.Now I just need to venture into that third step, and after spotting a Ren discount code on Kate's blog, I think I might just invest in the Radiance Renewal Mask to slot in between these two Origins wonders. If I can keep this up one day a week I think I shall be set!